Orphanage Releases Free Plug-Ins for Adobe After Effects

The Orphanage Inc., whose recent visual effects efforts include THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and HELLBOY, announced the release eLin, the a suite of plug-ins and scripts for Adobe After Effects 6.5 that allow compositors to work in the expanded photographic color space of film. eLin is free of charge for non-commercial use. eLin marks the first time that The Orphanage has released proprietary visual effects technology to the public.

eLin is ideal for 3D compositing because it addresses challenges such as motion blur, depth of field, glows and basic transformations that appear when you combine 2D and 3D imagery. ELins technology takes the built-in After Effects features to the next level creating more photographic results from the tools After Effects users are already familiar with, even other third-party effects. With support for industry-standard Cineon film scans as well as Industrial Light & Magics open source EXR file format, eLin integrates well with any production pipeline.

We created eLin to work more organically with film and other high dynamic range material, said Stu Maschwitz, Orphanage cto, but we now use it on every project, from A-list movies to commercials.

eLin completely changes everything in After Effects and the way I will look at compositing in it forever, added Joe Pavlo, visual effects supervisor for HBOs ROME. I thought I would only be getting this from Shake for a long time to come.

One of the principal challenges in using After Effects for high-end work is its lack of floating-point color support, elaborated Maschwitz. eLin cheats floating-point performance out of After Effects 16 bits-per-channel mode, effectively promoting every basic After Effects function to HDR. Even third-party plug-ins gain a color performance advantage with eLin.

eLin supports Adobe After Effects, version 6.5, and is available for commercial use for $499 through Red Giant Software, www.redgiantsoftware.com. Multiple and site license discounts can be requested.

The software can also be obtained free of charge for non-commercial use. Fully functional downloads, with no watermarking or restrictions, are available at www.redgiantsoftware.com/elin.html.

Red Giant Software LLC is a San Francisco-based company that develops and distributes high-end tools for digital filmmakers. Products are available as plug-ins for popular video editing and effects applications, including Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop and other compatible applications such as Adobe Premiere and Apple Final Cut Pro. The products are based on production-proven technology developed by visual effects industry veterans such as John Knoll, visual effects supervisor at ILM and Maschwitz.

Founded by former ILM visual effects artists Jonathan Rothbart, Maschwitz and Scott Stewart, The Orphanage is focused on high-end vfx services and animation for features and broadcast, original motion picture and television production and digital filmmaking technology development and licensing. The Orphanage is well known for its Magic Bullet family of digital cinema products, including Magic Bullet Suite and Magic Bullet Editors, sold through Red Giant Software.